[Q] Buying MBA 13.3" (Mid-2012) - first time using Mac

I've been PC user since 1994 and I feel that it's time to get a taste of different OS as well since I will probably be spending most of my life in biology/computer related career.

This is my last semester as an undergraduate.

I will be moving out of States in December so I want to buy one prior to moving, since it costs about $200 more for same model and no student discount.

I would be totally satisfied as long as new model doesn't come out till mid-2013 (just a wish!).

I don't play games (Doodle Jump or Wordfeud at most if I even play to, kill time) and I do casual video watching.

Otherwise, it will be primarily used for programming (UNIX, Eclipse, run biological data, etc) and to do school works.

Since I found that RAMs cannot be upgraded for MBA, I chose to go with 8GB RAM since I'm looking to use it for next 3-4 years at minimum.

I'm not sure how difficult it would be to make a transition, but I currently have an iPhone and the new iPad.

I plan to stick with Mac as is (no boot camp) and still keep my ThinkPad, but I'm also thinking about Parallel or BootCamp (not sure which is better).

I'm looking at the specs below - for $1292.00 (after student discount) + $100 back to school gift card (valid until 9/21/12)..

13-inch : 128GB
1.8GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor
Turbo Boost up to 2.8GHz
8GB memory
128GB flash storage1
Intel HD Graphics 4000

I've seen free printer deal after mail-in-rebate but I don't need a printer so unless if there is more 'cash' discount deal, I think this looks good but I haven't looked into it whole lot about Mac so I don't know.

Is there plenty of discount during Black Friday for Mac?

Do you think this is good deal? Thank you!

 

Bootcamp and Parallels are not the same thing.

Parallels is software that runs on OS X that basically emulates an actual computer and you install Windows in that virtual computer. There will be many limitations to this... you can search around the web and see the +s and -s.

Bootcamp is a utility that helps you get Windows installed directly on your machine in a dual boot, so you can start the machine up in Windows just like any other PC, or boot up in OS X, but not both at the same time.

 

I suppose Visual Studio is the only program that won't run on Mac that I currently use. Everything else seems to have a version for Mac. I have a copy of Office for Mac.

I don't know how Codecs work in Mac, but as long as MKV and AVI works, I should be fine. I suppose there are programs floating around.

In that case, which would be better? BootCamp or Parallel? I will still probably keep my ThinkPad around.

I will be running UNIX quite frequently but I heard Mac has built-in (while Windows does not).

 

if your using Visual Studio.. I guess the software your making is for Windows? If your doing something that could use a different IDE, you might look to get away from Visual Studio.

I normally just get VLC and run most things through that... runs all types of formats of movies and such.

Parallels will run Windows fine for mostly everything thats not graphic intensive... 3D games, or graphics development, etc...

OS X 10.8 is UNIX. Its a certified UNIX 03 OS... Register of Open Branded Products
This means its not like unix (like linux is), or based of Unix, or similar... it actually is unix.

 

Thank you for the reply. I mostly use Eclipse, jGrasp, and Vim, but I also use VS from time to time since it was given to me free from my university. Might as well make the use of as many IDE as possible.

I will be somewhere in between biology and computer science in most part, programming biological tools as well as running/analyzing already available biological tools.

It seems like most of these applications I will work with, are in tar.gz format, and works with Mac.

But besides that, do you think $1292 ($50 discount with 8GB RAM and 128GB SSD) + $100 gift card for apps is a decent deal?

I don't know how big of a sale Apple does during Black Friday (not suppose, I would think), but I'm looking forward to getting to know another OS besides Windows and Ubuntu.

 

I'd highly recommend getting the 256GB SSD. Especially with all of the experimentation it sounds like you might do over the next few years. Running multiple operating systems consumes a lot of space and unless you are comfortable storing virtual machine virtual disk files on an external Thunderbolt or USB 3.0 enclosure, it might be worthwhile to double the internal storage now.

 

It's not a terrible deal, but I'd check the apple refurbished site to see if they have anything in that configuration first... $150± saved from the refurb store sure beats 50 + gc that you may not fully use.

As far as black Friday goes, apple is a stingy company... You're unlikely to find a higher discount than their back to school promotion for the entire year.

 

Not really. For the past few years, Apple has actually run a Black Friday promotion for certain computers and iDevices (like the iPad or iPod lineup). Their Black Friday promotions are a lot worse than their current back to school offering though. From what I remember, they discounted the 13" MBA last year by $50-$75 (somewhere around there) during Black Friday. It definitely wasn't better than the standard educational discount and better deals could be had by purchasing the system from retailers such as Best Buy.

Apple very rarely directly offers their products at a sale price. The iPhone is the only device that continually sees a subsidized cost (if you sign up for a new two year wireless contract). Other than that, Apple's idea of a discount normally hovers around $50 off of a computer and $15 off of a $300 iPod.

 

It would be nice but it seems too costly with 256GB upgrade. I'm only using 30GB on my current machine (Windows 8 and Ubuntu on virtual machine) and an external HD. I keep all my music/picture/video and document on SD card (I use SD card as storage - always plugged in) and some unimportant materials in external HD.

 

By the way, I found out that you can get free upgrade to Parallels 8 if you purchase Parallels 7 from an authorized dealer.

They go for $50 at Amazon [vs. $79.99 for retail version of Parallel 8] (you must buy from Amazon, not marketplace seller).

Parallels Desktop for Mac Tech Guarantee 2012

 

For programming, I would recommend getting a larger display. 1280x800 is a bit cramped for that type of usage.

 

The resolution of the 13" MBA should be adequate for programming.

You aren't going to be using an SD card all the time with any MacBook Air or MacBook Pro as the cards stick out a little bit when they are in the slots. The cards aren't flush with the system when they are inserted into the built-in readers. So you would constantly have to eject the card and re-insert it when taking the MBA on the go. Or you could just rely on a USB 3.0 portable hard drive. A lot bigger but, if you are going to have to constantly plug something in and eject it, you might as well be doing that to a 500GB-1TB external HDD.

 

I thought he was going for the 1280x800 MBP. The MBA will be a little bit better. It's still a bit of a squish, but you can get by.

I would still recommend a larger display, or at least a larger external display for your desk.

 

I haven't seen them mention the MBP in this thread. In order to obtain a larger resolution with the Mac notebook line, they would have to purchase either a high res 15" MBP, older 17" MBP, or the 15" RMBP.

 

They didn't mention the MBP, I misread.

And yes, to get a higher resolution display, they would need to get a larger laptop (if they are determined to stick with Apple)

My recommendation would be to explore that option, or at the very least consider getting an external display for your desk. The reality is that coding on low resolution displays is a hassle, and if that is one of your primary use cases, a large display (in both size and resolution) is a very good quality to hunt for.

The 15" retina macbook pro gives you up to 1680x1050 or 1920x1200 space, and old style macbook pros (15") go up to 1680x1050.

You can also get laptops from other vendors with higher resolutions, or an external monitor.

Or, you can just tolerate 1440x900, or even 1280x800. I personally wouldn't want either, and I wouldn't advocate 1440x900 for programming, and I would actively recommend against going 1280x800.

1680x1050 or maybe 1440x900 is a decent realistic starting point where the resolution isn't going to consciously get in the way of your work, 1920x1200+ is better.

 

I honestly don't know.. I've been using 1200x800 laptop for past 3 years and I seem to be fine with it. Maybe my eyes are so used to it

I personally prefer small and lighter laptop (my current one isn't exactly an ultrabook but it's 12.1" and less than 3 lbs with 9 cell battery)

I don't have a set budget but I feel like anything above what I'm currently have configured (~$1300) is a luxury since I already have a laptop that's working.

Retina is too expensive

I'm thinking about getting an external display but not now, since I will be moving out of States in 3 months.

Will MBA 13" fit in any 13 inch sleeve or case? I'm not sure whether to get a case (with zipper) or a sleeve.

 

If there's one thing you never have to worry about with any apple product, it's availability and choice of accessories.

Honestly 1440x900 is a good fit for a 13" screen... gives you enough workspace but everything is still legible without squinting or zooming. 1600x900 would be better but alas, apple doesn't do that.

 

It should fit any 13" sleeve though, on some of them, there might be a little wiggle room since the MBA is thinner than most other 13" full on notebooks. There are snap cover cases that won't fit the MBA. I have an incase sleeve for my 13" MBA. I actually bought it for my 13" MBP but kept it whenever I sold that. It fits my 13" MBA just fine and the little wiggle room there was has been reduced with me putting a few cables in the outside pouch.

Just use a little common sense with these things and you will be fine.

 

actually korn I found a few sleeves that wont work too well since the footprint is closer to a 14" unit. my last trip to get designer sleeves was a pain.

 

It's 13.3" but it's also 16:10 (not as wide, longer from front to back) and it has a relatively large border around the screen, so the frame is a bit big.

I'd say you might find that some cases would fit snugly on the sides, loose on the thickness, with some of the laptop hanging out.

 

Is it 13" or 13.3"?

Apple's web site says it's 13", some other review sites says that it's 13.3".

The case I want to get says that it's 13" and it's also listed under Apple's site for MBA 13 case".. Hmm..

 

The display is 13.3" diagonal on the MBA and the smaller MBP. The larger MBP has a 15.4" diagonal display. These models are often referred to as 13" or 15", and any case built for the MBA 13 will of course fit that model.

 

I purchased from Apple.com. Thank you so much for all the help!

I guess it will take one week because of 8GB RAM upgrade...

Is iWork 9.0.3 the latest version? I'm trying to buy one off eBay for the disc and key then download the trial version to activate the key (since Air has no optical drive?)

 

you can buy each piece if iWork you want right off the Mac App Store... instead of the whole suite, unless you really want all the programs in it.

 

I would also hold off since iWork '09 is supposedly going to receive an update soon-ish. I don't see a point in buying iWork '09 just to buy a newer version around the corner (unless you can buy it for an extremely low price).

 

What exactly is the difference between each piece of iWork being sold for $19.99 versus ones being sold on eBay for considerably cheaper (e.g.: iWork 09 | eBay

Is it essentially same thing and the disc version can get latest updates like the downloadable digital version via Mac App Store?

Or is what I am buying as is (most of them on eBay seem to be v9.0.3)?

 

There is no difference. I picked up iWork '09 in 2010 from my University bookstore on disc for $5. I have received all the same updates as the App Store version over the last few years.

 

Not really related to Mac, but if I buy Keynote/Pages/Numbers for iPad via App Store, can I also use it for iPhone (without buying another license). I really like the fact about being able to sync between Mac, iPad, and iPhone so I might just get iWork for Mac if that's the case...

 

anything you purchase in the Mac App Store or the iOS App Store are tied to your account, not your computer... you get a license to use it on all your own machines for all the software I know of, so you should be able to install and use things on multiple devices.